The present disclosure is generally related to wellbore operations and, more particularly, to the detection of wellbore projectiles.
In the oil and gas industry, subterranean formations penetrated by a wellbore are often fractured or otherwise stimulated in order to enhance hydrocarbon production. Fracturing and stimulation operations are typically carried out by strategically isolating various zones of interest (or intervals within a zone of interest) in the wellbore using packers and the like, and then subjecting the isolated zones to a variety of treatment fluids at increased pressures. In a typical fracturing operation for a cased wellbore, the casing cemented within the wellbore is first perforated to allow hydrocarbons within the surrounding subterranean formation to flow into the wellbore. Prior to producing the hydrocarbons, however, treatment fluids are pumped into the wellbore and through the perforations into the formation, which has the effect of opening and/or enlarging drainage channels in the formation, and thereby enhancing the producing ability of the well.
It is possible to stimulate multiple zones during a single stimulation operation by using onsite stimulation fluid pumping equipment. In such applications, several packers are introduced into the wellbore and each packer is strategically located at predetermined intervals configured to isolate adjacent zones of interest. Once the packers are appropriately deployed, a wellbore projectile may be introduced into the wellbore to selectively engage a corresponding downhole tool in order to perform a predetermined action thereon. For example, the wellbore projectile may engage and shift a sleeve to open ports that allow fluid communication into an isolated zone for treatment or stimulation. Once the isolated zone has been properly stimulated, a subsequent wellbore projectile is dropped to interact with another downhole tool, uphole of the previous downhole tool, for stimulation thereabove. This process is repeated until all the desired zones have been stimulated.
The wellbore projectiles are typically sent into the wellbore strategically in a predetermined fashion depending, for example, on their relative size. For instance, the smallest wellbore projectiles are introduced into the wellbore prior to the larger wellbore projectiles, where the smallest wellbore projectile is suitable for interacting with the downhole tool furthest in the well, and the largest wellbore projectile is suitable for interacting with the downhole tool closest to the surface of the well. If the wrong size wellbore projectile is introduced into the wellbore, remedial operations to remove the projectile can be costly and time-consuming. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that reliably detecting the size and configuration of a wellbore projectile entering the wellbore at the surface would prove advantageous in stimulation operations.